The Week: The week's good news - January 10, 2019

Instead Of Marching, I Will Nest

By Jacqueline GatesConfluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.

I awoke this morning, finally clear about something I’ve been wobbly about ever since the election results came in more than a year ago.

See, I’ve been dithering how to show up amidst the turmoil,
how best to embody the Sovereignty that is at the core of my BEing, when the basic sovereignty of others is so much at risk.

Whether to join the activism of those who align with …
the women, the LGBTQ, the people of every-colour,
or whether to stay aligned with my knowing that what I <really> want, at the end of it all, is a world where activism is unnecessary.

Whether to be fierce + outspoken,
or embody the knowing that what’s true for me is not true for all, (and, besides, it’s highly unlikely that a rant-y monologue on social media will-or-has ever changed anyone’s mind).

Whether to piss off those I love by saying something, or piss off others I love by not.

I have made a choice.

I have chosen to more deliberately + devotedly,
make my online life/feed/nest a reflection of my real-life one.

If you were a guest in my nest (ha! that rhymes!), you would be tended and treasured.
You could be comforted + celebrated,
laughed with,
not at.

I would not allow name-calling, or slander, or vitriolic condemning of ‘the others’.
I would not allow unsubstantiated information to be presented as fact, no matter how much the presenter might believe it is.

I would not allow you to forget your magnificence.

So why on earth would I allow that in my virtual spaces??

In the midst of a world-gone-mad,
we need self-created sanctuaries, more than ever.

In my space, you will have space to breathe, to pause, to rebalance.
In my space, you will have a moment to remember that this, too, will pass.

In my space, you will be reminded that great change begins within,
within ourselves first, only then within a culture or country.

YOU, and you alone, get to choose to be the change you wish to see in YOUR world.
(with curtsy to Ghandi, who spoke this thought first.)

Most importantly, in my space, there is no directive or obligation as to how that change should look for you, or for anyone else, for that matter. Whether you march, or not. Whether you fill your social media with politics, or choose to anonymously donate to your cause. Whichever side you’ve landed on, it matters not.

In my space, you can be you,
without defense,
without defiance,
without guilt.

The only proviso is that you do no harm.

In my space there will be beauty.

Every nest must have beauty,
not for its artistic or commercial value,
but for the energetic medicine that beauty simply is.

So, I will create a virtual nest that is beauty-filled to me, and I will continue to not-so-gently nudge you toward surrounding yourself with that which you consider beauty-full.

The deep magic of beauty is that it IS in the eye of the beholder.
So I’ll do mine, and hopefully that’ll remind you to do yours, yes?

When the world outside is awash with ugliness, we need more beauty-medicine than usual, just to be able to cope.

In my space, there will be cordiality and kindness.

In my space, there will be comfort-ing and happy upliftment.
Because that’s what we all need our spaces to do for us, if we are to move out into the world and do ThatThingWeDo with grace and strength and oomph.

In my space, all are welcome.
Until they choose to make themselves unwelcome,
and even then, the door is left ajar.

Because we’re all in this together, you know?
and/but sometimes, ironically,
we need to leave the collective to find that out.

So, there you have it.
I have made a choice.

I have chosen to embody what I believe in.
Instead of marching, I will nest.